Books

About two thirds of the way through A Wizard of Earthsea.

Almost finished 'Les entretiens' de Confucius (in French, because, well, I'm French). Started today: 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave'.

Work of fiction waiting to be started: Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', J.M. Barrie 'The complete Peter Pan'.

The Rivers of London books are fantastic, and keep getting better.

I've literally just finished reading the latest one, Stone and Sky.

The Left Hand of Darkness - I read most of it a few years ago, never finished it. On my way to finish it in a few days!

About 20% into Nietzsches Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Not an easy read but fascinating.

Nearly done with Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir! It's quite good, and I'm glad I'd read somewhere here to go in with zero context. Would highly recommend.

Continuing to listen my way through the Otherland series by Tad Williams. Currently in book two, River of Blue Fire. It seems to me that he wrote all four books as one book and was told that was ~3000 pages wouldn't sell well. I'm very much enjoying it. Williams writes in a detailed pace, which can seem slow at times, but I love his use of 20th century literature as the basis of all the VR worlds. They're never the same as their origin and are wonderfully permuted.

I'm 90% of the way through The Master and the Margarita. It's a completely surreal plotline and I think it'll help if I do some reading into the background (both the setting and the author's writing process) once I've finished. It's made me laugh a couple of times though, in particular:

Gender Identify and Faith, by Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia A. Sadusky.

I’m still working through Drew Hayes Super Powereds series, I’ve finished book 3 and am reading a spin-off called Corpies that takes place during book 3.

The quality has definitely improved. Still could have benefited from a good editor but not quite as much as before. It’s moved into A tier.

I just finished my first ever audio book. Always thought this was not for me because I like reading, you know. Then I gave a try, and that's indeed better than I thought. With audio book I can enjoy literacy while doing activities that never would allowed me to do so, like working (for stuff which do not require 100% concentration) or driving (especially in traffic jams). And I really enjoyed having a story told to me, you know a bit like a madeleine de Proust, something bringing you back to childhood.

So for the first one I choose one in my native language, French. À retardement, by Franck Thilliez. This is a great thriller around topics on psychiatry, psychotic criminals and so on. I thought it was very well written and, knowing a bit of the topic through the stories of my psychologist partner, I think it's very well documented about the illness and management of it in asylums (although there are parts that are pure fictional without any scientific veracity).

I'm also reading to another French novel, Le signal, by Maxime Chattam. This is an horror story, maybe inspired by what Stephen King could have written (but as far as I'm in not as good as King - but ok it's very difficult to reach). One interesting suggestion, in the introduction of the novel, the author suggests some music to listen while reading (horror movies soundtracks), never done that before and this is a very good idea (I don't have the ability at each reading session but when I did it, indeed I enjoyed more the book).

I finished The Black Tongue Thief a few days ago so I've bounced around a few books. But I seem to have settled on Swords & Deviltry by Fritz Leiber and The Mosaic Effect by McGregor and Mitchell

I’m reading through The Long Walk for a second time, mostly because it seems like they insist on forcing every Stephen King story into a movie, regardless of how little it makes sense.

The Long Walk is bleak. Something tells me the Hunger Games guy can’t hope to deliver nearly the same level of bleakness that the book insists on.

About halfway through Roman Sexualities. I know the broad concepts, but the details elaborated on are fascinating.

I'm reading "This is How You Lose the Time War" and "His to Be Perfect" currently.

I recommend both of them!

I'm in the last quarter of Death's End by Liu Cixin, and not really enjoying it. It reads more like a documentary, and the plot seems to rely on people making the stupidest decisions possible. I'll finish it, but I'll be glad to move onto something else when I do.

I finished Grendel by John Gardner. There were some parts I really liked and some that were just ok. Overall a decent read.

I've started rereading the Lady Astronaut books by Mary Robinette Kowal. They are just as gripping and bingeable as I remember them being. I finished the first one (The Calculating Stars) and am currently on book 2 (The Fated Sky).

I am in a book hole..

I started listening to

About a month ago but put it aside when The Fort Bragg Cartel was released. I finished that an I returned to IT.

I am really struggling with it. I have read a number of King books and after four or five you learn his conventions and tropes. I suspect I would like IT a lot more if I had read it when it was released

Bradbury's, The October Country stories to get a jump on the season.

Still deeply down the TrekLit rabbit hole.

Finished the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy early last week (amazing, BTW) and am now through the first two books of the DS9: Millennium trilogy.

I just finished Fahrenheit 451. It was pretty decent but the ending was kind of a letdown.

Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.

Iain M. Banks' Matter. It's the second-last Culture novel and I'm sad because I'll be done with them soon. It's also been a pleasant surprise because it seems like a lot of people suggest that the novels drop off in quality, but I've really enjoyed the last couple and this one so far.

just about finished my current library read The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco. really enjoying the prose and imagery of this gothic horror novella. definitely want to see if i can get a physical copy of this edition with art by Harry Morris.

Just started From Volga To Ganga by Rahul Sankrityayan

Right now I'm reading the biography of a Finnish conservationist Pentti Linkola. He was controversial but interesting a character.

I also have City of Darkness on the table, it's about Kowloon Walled City. Both books are great!

Omensetter’s Luck by William H. Gass. It was described as a tie for the “all-time best U.S. book about human loneliness” with Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Foster Wallace, so I look forward to it on that endorsement.

About halfway through Mistborn: The Final Empire.

It's a horror week for me. Currently reading Shoot Me in the Face on A Beautiful Day by Emma E. Murray and also beta reading a horror novel by someone I know. Quite enjoying them both.

Recently read Albert Camus' The Stranger. That was pretty decent. Think I'll go for one of his nonfictional works soonish, been intending to for a while.

Finished Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary In Cold War Africa. A very nuanced look at the man. A real idealist bursting with energy, a brilliant man and a visionary, yet inexperienced in politics and governance and prone to misjudging people by assuming (and demanding) the best of them. By nature an improviser, trying to improvise an entire government, and often with a mindset too military for civilian tastes, but too 'revolutionary' for military tastes. It's made me hungry to read more about the situation 'on the ground' during Sankara's administration.

Audio book : First Lie Wins. Just an easy listen.

EBook: My Friends by Fredrik Backman. I already cried and I just started lol

I've put the spy thriller I was trying to read on hold for now, since I just haven't been in the mood for it.

Instead, I read:

The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey (cozy-ish historical urban-ish fantasy) | bingo: another continent, award (hard), minority author

A Scottish governess helps out two families with their mundane and supernatural issues in 1890s Singapore.

This was cute, and I'll be putting the sequels on my list of things to read when I need some light fluff. Recommended, but don't go into it expecting the kind of thing that features modern inserts flouting society left and right: the characters generally do what's expected of them, even when they're frustrated by the limitations and injustices of their world.

I need to start a new book, just finished the last one. It was a Sklyler Ramirez book, and I shared in a post this weekend that I strongly suspect him using AI to write. That said, the books are fine if you're in the market for some light scifi reading, I've read most of it in bed before sleeping.

Next will be "This inevitable ruin" by Matt Dinniman. I've read the first five DCC books early this year, and listened to "the eye of the Bedlam bride" this summer, so I'll just complete the series so far.